Lord Buddha The Guide Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

He was born in Lumbin,
Delivered his first sermon in Saranath,
And shed his body in Kushinara,
The Lord Buddha, the Light of Asia.

He is
Siddhartha, the one who accomplishes,
Tathagata, the perfect one,
Bhudhisattva, the enlightened one,
Sakhya Muni, the ascetic of Sakhya clan,
Goutama, the ascetic,
And Jina, the conqueror.

Truths are four:
The existence of sorrow;
There is cause for it;
Cessation of the cause;
The conquest.

Rules are five:
Abstinence from injury;
Abstinence from stealing;
Abstinence of wrongful indulgence;
Abstinence of falsehood;
Abstinence from intoxication.

Paths are eightfold:
Right understanding;
Right thoughts;
Right speech;
Right action;
Right living;
Right effort;
Right mindfulness;
Right contemplation

Self indulgence and
Self mortification,
Are two extreme steps;
Choose the middle path.

To eat and drink, to live
Is not evil.
To do to be merry is evil.
To nurse the health is not evil.
To do the opposite is evil.
The one who conquers the all
But not one’s self, conquers nil.

Buddha ruled ‘the Hindus’
Before Rama and Krishna ruled.
His shrines had been replaced
With the shrines of Hindus,
Which were again replaced
With the shrines of Islam.
If Buddha is to return to his place,
Rama has no place to return to.
26.05.2002, pakd